© Lonely Planet Publications 608 Cumbria & the Lake District Ever since William Wordsworth and his Romantic chums ventured into the hills in search of poetic inspiration in the late 18th century, this part of England has been a byword for natural grandeur, although in many ways the Cumbrian landscape, with its glacier-etched valleys, ridges and peaks, is closer to the rugged panoramas of the Scottish Highlands than the green and pleasant vistas of England. The region’s distinctive jade-green hills (locally known as ‘fells’) have been a favoured haunt for generations of peak-baggers, trail trekkers and view junkies. Unsurprisingly, the vast majority of Cumbria’s 14 million annual visitors make a beeline for the landmark sights of the Lake District. Cruise boats putter across the silvery waterways of Windermere, Derwent Water and Coniston Water, while whitewashed inns and hugger-mugger pubs huddle beneath the lofty summits of England’s three highest mountains, Scaféll, Scaféll Pike and Helvellyn. Literary connections are another major Lakeland draw: Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Arthur Ransome and Beatrix Potter are all inextricably linked with this corner of England, and the Victorian critic John Ruskin created one of northern England’s loveliest country estates at Brantwood, overlooking Coniston Water. But if you want to escape the inevitable crowds, it’s worth taking the time to discover some of the region’s lesser-known sights. Relatively few visitors investigate Cumbria’s historic capitals, Penrith and Carlisle, while even fewer make the trek to explore Cumbria’s bleakly beautiful coastline, where you’ll find the spiritual home of sticky toffee pudding, the rosy-red ruins of Furness Abbey and the historic steam railway known as La’al Ratty. HIGHLIGHTS Delving into the Lake District’s literary heritage at Dove Cottage ( p620 ) in Grasmere, Rydal Mount ( p620 ) and Hill Top ( p623 ) Playing lord of the manor at John Ruskin’s country estate, Brantwood ( p623 ), near Coniston CUMBRIA & Cruising in style around the idyllic islands of Derwent Water ( p627 ) THE LAKE DISTRICT THE LAKE DISTRICT Admiring the outlandish artwork around Derwent Water Grizedale Forest ( p622 ) Grasmere Rydal Mount Clambering aboard the pocket-sized choo- Ambleside Coniston Hawkshead choos of the Ravenglass & Eskdale Railway Hill Top (La’al Ratty; p632 ) Grizedale Forest Ravenglass & Sampling contemporary Lakeland tucker at Eskdale Railway Lucy’s on a Plate ( p619 ) in Ambleside or the Drunken Duck ( p622 ) in Hawkshead POPULATION: 496,200 AREA: 2629 SQ MILES NUMBER OF LAKE DISTRICT PEAKS OVER 900M: 5 lonelyplanet.com CUMBRIA & THE LAKE DISTRICT •• History 609 0 30 km CUMBRIA & THE LAKE DISTRICT 0 15 miles A76 Lochmaben A74 Langholm e d A701 e Lockerbie r R te Locharbriggs a A709 W A68 l e M74 d A7 id A75 Eaglesfield L Dumfries Ecclefechan NORTHUMBERLAND A711 Chollerford A75 Gretna Green Longtown Wall A69 Gretna drian's New Abbey Caerlaverock M74 Ha Corbridge Castle Haltwhistle Hexham Blackford Brampton A710 Kingstown A69 Warwick Bridge Carlisle Warwick A689 A686 A68 Silloth Wetheral Micklethwaite Orton Carleton Waverton Grange l o Low Hesket Alston Solway o Red Dial p Firth Aspatria m E a A6 d Mealsgate W e A686 E n l l Wolsingham e Plumpton n Long Meg & Maryport Crosby Her Daughters CUMBRIA Plumpton Head The A595 il Pennines A596 A591 Petter Penrith Bassenthwaite T DURHAM Cockermouth Lake Eamont Bridge ee Workington Scales A66 Rheged s Clifton A595 Keswick Lowther A66 Crummock Castlerigg Hackthorpe Moresby Water Stone Circle Parton Derwent Lowca Water Appleby Coupland Ullswater Shap Whitehaven Frizington Ennerdale Thirlspot C Brough Barnard Castle oas Water t A591 t Cleator Moor o C Kirkby A66 Bowes C W Egremont oast al Stephen St Bees u A592 Haweswater k m M6 Wastwater b Grasmere Newbiggin- Sellafield Lake ria on-Line Wa Nuclear Gosforth District y Ambleside A685 Plant National Park A6 Seascale Troutbeck Tebay Eskdale Waterhead Bridge Keld Boot Forest Hall Reeth Holmrook Ings Thwaite Muker Coniston Windermere A683 Ravenglass Bowness-on- Swaledale Broad Oak Coniston Windermere Kendal Sedbergh Muncaster Lane End Water Windermere Castle Killington Wensleydale Broughton- A592 Hawes A595 in-Furness Reservoir A684 A684 Lowick Newby Aysgarth Bootle Grizebeck Foxfield Green Bridge Dentdale Yorkshire Whitbeck A683 Dales Soutergate Arrad A590 National Park Whicham High Milnthorne NORTH Foot YORKSHIRE Cartmel Newton Irish Millom Ulverston Arnside Kirkby Sea Grange- Lonsdale Dalton- Lindal-in- over-Sands A65 Horton-in- Litton Furness Ribblesdale in-Furness M6 Ingleton Kettlewell Baycliff Arncliffe Barrow-in- THE LAKE DISTRICT Aldingham Morecambe Carnforth Furness Bay Conistone Roosecote Newbiggin A683 Stainforth Morecambe A6 Grassington Giggleswick CUMBRIA & LANCASHIRE Settle Malham 3ºW Lancaster History and the stout fortresses at Carlisle, Penrith The earliest settlers arrived in the Lake and Kendal. District around 5000 years ago. The region The area was a centre for the Romantic was subsequently occupied by Celts, Angles, movement during the 19th century, and Vikings and Romans, and during the Dark writers including Coleridge, de Quincey and Ages marked the centre of the kingdom of William Wordsworth were among the first to Rheged, which extended across much of mod- champion the area’s natural beauty. The Lake ern Cumbria, Dumfries and Galloway, and District became one of the nation’s first na- was annexed by neighbouring Northumbria tional parks in 1951, and the modern county sometime in the 8th century. of Cumbria was formed from the old districts During the Middle Ages Cumbria marked of Cumberland and Westmorland in 1974. the start of ‘The Debatable Lands’, the wild frontier between England and Scotland. Bands Activities of Scottish raiders known as Border Reivers CYCLING regularly plundered the area, prompting the Cycling is popular in Cumbria, especially construction of distinctive pele towers, built mountain biking on the fells. Cycle-hire shops to protect the inhabitants from border raiders, are widespread, and tourist offices stock a .